Everyone was "Waiting To Exhale" at the close of Lehigh's 70-67 Patriot League win over arch-rival Lafayette last night.

Senior Rashawne Glenn stared down Ralph Carter before burying a 3-pointer that gave the Engineers a 68-67 lead with 31 seconds to go.

Glenn shadowed Leopard stalwart Craig Kowadla enough at the other end to force a key miss with 7 seconds left.

Freshman guard Brett Eppehimer sank two free throws with 6 seconds to go before Kowadla drew iron on an off-balance trey at the final buzzer.

The win snapped an 11-game Lehigh losing streak and extended Lafayette's frustration away from the friendly confines of Kirby Field House to 28 games.

It was a broken arrow that pierced the Leopards at crunch time, enabling Lehigh to win its seventh straight home game over its biggest rival.

"It was a broken play," Glenn said. "It was no big thing. Time was running down and I took it upon myself. It was my last game here, I wanted to go out on top."

Glenn also responded to the defensive challenge.

"It was like a playground challenge," Glenn said. "One-on-one. I've known Craig for a long time. I can joke with him."

Misha Sidorov, on a switch, forced Kowadla to take a shot Mary Lou Retton could appreciate at the final buzzer.

"I was looking to draw a foul, which is kind of dumb because I doubt they'd give it to you in that situation," Kowadla said.

The Engineers (4-20, 2-8) came out storming. Glenn fired in eight of his game-high 25 points in an 11-0 flurry.

"I told the kids they were going to take it at us right away," Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "I guess they didn't listen to me."

Lehigh maintained all or part of that advantage until Kowadla spearheaded a marvelous 10-1 surge that gave the Leopards a 67-65 edge with 1:06 to go.

Kowadla (19 points, four rebounds, three assists) popped in a jumper and two 3-pointers to set the stage for a pair of clutch, go-ahead free throws by freshman Ted Cole (14 points, six rebounds).

"I had been struggling at the line, so coach has been working hard with me on those," Cole said. "I wanted those."

"Unfortunately, we got going too late. We outplayed them for 3 minutes," Kowadla said. "To win, you have to play 40. We played a bad game. We weren't ready. We didn't get to a lot of loose balls, our shooting was off.

"Fortunately, we still had a chance to win it at the end but it shouldn't have come down to that. Give them credit; Ray Glenn is a weapon. They didn't have him the last time. He's capable of 25 points every night. (The game-winner) was a tough shot, Ralph was right in his face."

Kowadla also knew he'd have his turn.

"I knew I'd get to the hole and get a good look," Kowadla said. "I just didn't want to draw an offensive foul or get it blocked by a big man. I had a good look. Maybe in one of these next few games it will go down for me."

The Leopards aren't concerned about their road miseries that date back to a 78-75 win at Columbia on Dec. 5, 1994. They've had a lead or trailed by four or less points in the final 2 minutes of seven of their last nine losses -- six of which were on the road.

"When you are on the road, you have to make your own breaks," Kowadla insisted. "We have to dig down deeper, because we are right there at the end.

"I think everyone is scared of playing us right now. I think we can come on strong at the (Patriot League) tournament."

"He's going to be a good player. My plan was to take it to him," Hodgson said.

"We missed Stefan," O'Hanlon admitted. "But how much do you think they missed Kem Widmer?"

Widmer, a senior co-captain, sat in street clothes with a severely sprained ankle.

Sidorov stepped in and collected 12 points, six rebounds and two assists. Eppehimer was also a factor with eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.

"It's been a while for us," Lehigh head coach Dave Duke said. "It's a good feeling.

"We had things under control and we were telling the kids about keeping their poise, but Kowadla banged those 3s so fast we had no time to react. Our guys got it back together."

Just enough so that Lehigh could exhale before they were the color of Smurfs.

EXTRA POINTS -- Easton's L.J. Bennett had 12 points and five rebounds while Carter had 11 points and four rebounds for the 'Pards ... Lafayette leads the all-time series 119-63 ... Both teams had 40 rebounds ... Lehigh turned the ball over only 12 times ... The 67 points allowed were the second fewest yielded by Lehigh this year ... Princeton had 62 in a 17-point win on Nov. 27.